Celtic should have spent their money more wisely this summer.
Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers blamed the board after the team’s Champions League exit, moaning about a lack of spending.
Yet there is something amiss about this excuse after he broke the team’s transfer record to pay £9 million for a striker.
Even more unfortunately, Odsonne Edouard was not even available in midweek for Celtic due to injury.
BBC Sport reported Rodgers’ criticism of the board for a lack of ambition this summer.
Edouard was on loan last season and some regarded his signature as inevitable, but it was still costly, and if Celtic were not going to invest big money in defence, they should have walked away from a deal.
Edouard is a fantastic prospect, but there is also a case to be made that he should be third choice striker behind Leigh Griffiths and Moussa Dembele.
Last season he scored 11 goals, compared to 14 from Griffiths and 17 for Dembele.
Celtic’s defence is in a desperate state, with Marvin Compper and Jack Hendry looking like wastes of money.
Jozo Simunovic has gone backwards, the Dedryck Boyata situation is a farce, and Erik Sviatchenko should never have been sold.
If an area of the pitch needed £9 million spending on it, then its the defence.
Rodgers was within his rights to sign Edouard, but he willingly ignored the priority by doing so, and has himself to blame for not addressing that more urgently, and revisiting the striker if funds could stretch.
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